University of Virginia Library

RESTORATION OF ROTUNDA

Mrs. Smith reported on a meeting of the Buildings and Grounds Committee held in the Rotunda on
January 13th to discuss proposals by Professor Frederick D. Nichols for a study of the possibility
of remodelling the interior of the Rotunda so as to correct the alterations made by Stanford White
and restore the interior as it was from the time Jefferson built it until the fire of 1895.

Displaying Jefferson's original drawings and working notes for the Rotunda, Mrs. Smith pointed
out that the reestablishment of the three oval rooms on the main floor would make the Rotunda
again a center of the University by providing suitable spaces for the President's office, the Board,
which will be too large for the present room after February, could also resume its nineteenth
century practice of meeting in the Rotunda. Mrs. Smith noted that the Dome Room, restored to the
symmetrical proportions that made it famous for its beauty among nineteenth century travelers, might
be used as a museum of University history, and also for social occasions as was so often the case
in the past, beginning with the dinner given for Lafayette in 1824

After a discussion, it was agreed that the Virginia Fine Arts Commission be consulted and that
Jefferson's drawings for the Rotunda interior be exhibited to Alumni through publication in the
Alumni News.